I had Dish for about 8 years in Arizona and Illinois, and loved it. However, in Illinois, we had issues when the local channels became available. They said that to get them, I had to install a "SuperDish" which was pretty large. They would not put it on the roof, because they said it was too big and winds would rip it off, so they would only put it in the yard. But our yard was hemmed in by trees and houses to the south, so there was no signal. They told me, "Too bad." So, I called DirecTV, and they said, "Nah, we'll just put two dishes on your roof". So I did that. I also got a DVR, which at the time was a TiVo box, and it ROCKS. Then later, my inlaws moved in with us, and they bought another DVR for their bedroom, but left it when they left since they don't have satellite TV. Then when we moved to Virginia, DirecTV said that since we moved, we qualified for another receiver. I got a third DVR, for free! I don't like the DirecTV DVR as much as the TiVo boxes, but i'll take it.

Their customer service has always been good, and the price as compared to Dish is about the same. I get all of the regional sports channels anyway so that I can watch PAC-10 hoops. So i'm stoked for the mtn. to come!

I have DirecTV too, I'm in Eagle Mountain, Utah (no comcast available) and I love it too. Their quality of the broadcasts is so much better than I had on Comcast when I lived in Orem. And their service seems a lot better too. I had a case when an installer came out to hook up our DVR and didn't realize I had an HD receiver in another room and hooked it up wrong, so that receiver no longer had a signal. They apologized and gave me a years worth of HD for free.

Others of my family have had Dish (I never had) but when I've used their DVR I haven't noticed anything that stands out as remarkably superior. I hear all the time that Dish's DVR is so much better, but maybe someone can actually explain why? My DVR with DirecTV has been fine and done everything I could ask from it. I especially like that I can go online and set shows to record through the web.

With the MTN coming to DirecTV I will probably never switch TV providers again.

EDIT:
As for outages, we've had a number of very heavy snow storms this winter and our TV has not gone out.

I am a Direct TV customer in the provo area, and my contract expired last month so I have been debating about switching to Cable to get the Mtn. I am excited that I may not have to now. My question for the other Direct TV customers is that I always hear about these great deals/pricing/Free HD receiver etc., but it always says "New customers only". Does anyone know what options there are for an existing customer to upgrade (I just bought an HD TV)? Do I need to cancel my service for a month, and then resign? Any ideas/experiences?

Raul wrote:

I am a Direct TV customer in the provo area, and my contract expired last month so I have been debating about switching to Cable to get the Mtn. I am excited that I may not have to now. My question for the other Direct TV customers is that I always hear about these great deals/pricing/Free HD receiver etc., but it always says "New customers only". Does anyone know what options there are for an existing customer to upgrade (I just bought an HD TV)? Do I need to cancel my service for a month, and then resign? Any ideas/experiences?

Raul, they usually have some good deals for existing customers to upgrade. I know I've found some on the website http://www.directv.com under the equipment area. You can also call them and ask them.

A good trick is to call them with a Dish offer and say that you can get this this and this if you switch to Dish and they will usually do their best to match it or at least come close.

I have had DISH for about 3 years now and almost every night my wife complains about it. We lose the signal during heavy storms (snow and rain). We have to turn off the DVD player in the basement where the main TV is so the remote upstairs will change channels. I called their support a couple of times and get the runaround. I told them I think the dish needs to be adjusted, that it has had various problems with the signal but they want to charge me $100 to come out and look at it. When I signed up, I signed up for two systems but since I only had two TV's they only installed one. I wasn't home so the installer convinced my wife that that is what had to happen. I am about ready to pack everything in a box and send it all to the home of the CEO of DISH with a description of where he can install the satelite dishes! If DirecTV goes MTN and DISH doesn't that will be the final straw. My only problem is that my wife is so fed up with DISH that she want Time Warner again. She sees both satelite companies as the same. DirecTV may have a new ohio customer soon though if they really are going to broadcast MTN.

imuakahuku wrote:

I have had DISH for about 3 years now and almost every night my wife complains about it. We lose the signal during heavy storms (snow and rain). We have to turn off the DVD player in the basement where the main TV is so the remote upstairs will change channels. I called their support a couple of times and get the runaround. I told them I think the dish needs to be adjusted, that it has had various problems with the signal but they want to charge me $100 to come out and look at it. When I signed up, I signed up for two systems but since I only had two TV's they only installed one. I wasn't home so the installer convinced my wife that that is what had to happen. I am about ready to pack everything in a box and send it all to the home of the CEO of DISH with a description of where he can install the satelite dishes! :angry: If DirecTV goes MTN and DISH doesn't that will be the final straw. My only problem is that my wife is so fed up with DISH that she want Time Warner again. She sees both satelite companies as the same. DirecTV may have a new ohio customer soon though if they really are going to broadcast MTN.

Maybe Dish just sucks in Ohio. It wasn't great in Utah for the time I had it there, but it was unbearable here in Ohio. I think I may have been talked into getting DirecTV. I should go look up their channel selection. Got to make sure the kid has his shows. If the mtn is on the sports tier, that is less than $5 more a month (at least on the other systems that I've gotten that channel selection).

I went with Dish because I thought that they were the ones getting closer to a deal with the mtn.